busk – Page 2 – Busk Break

Caster covers “Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me”

Recently unearthed from the Busk Break archives, Caster covers this classic “dirty blues” tune in 2011!

At the time of this recording, banjo-playing busker Caster had yet to write a song he felt comfortable playing in front of a camera. So I asked him, “Do you have a cover that you feel you really love? A song that you’ve truly made your own?”

He paused, stroked his thin chin beard, and thought. Then with a smile that seemed to indicate he was a little embarrassed, he said “I’ve become rather attached to a song called ‘Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me'”
Continue reading Caster covers “Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me”

The Archaic return to Busk Break with a trio of tunes

It’s hard not to have a hint of prejudice when you encounter a guitar-and-banjo busking duo. Almost certainly, you’ll prepare yourself to hear some nasal-pitched bluegrass tune, or maybe some gritty, jazzed-up novelty blues song. What you probably won’t expect is to hear music that owes as much to Marcus Mumford and Thom Yorke as it does to Earl Scruggs or Lawrence Marrero. That’s exactly what makes The Archaic so interesting. Continue reading

Angel the Balloon Man makes an awesome octopus

.If you’ve been near Pack Square on any tourist-heavy day, odds are you’ve seen a swarm of enraptured children and bemused adults watching Angel the Balloon Guy at work. With deft, well-practiced movements and an artist’s detachment, he warps, twists, deforms and inflates globs of inflated rubber into an attention-grabbing hat, a surrogate puppy or pet dragon, and a monster-slaying/sister-hitting sword. Raised by his first-generation-American immigrant family who had ties to the circus, and eventually trained by Ringling, Angel has spent decades working on his craft. Continue reading

Marshall Railroad takes a tour break to busk in Asheville

On a DIY summer tour to promote their new album, Jason Deemer and Joe Varga of the Phillipsburg, NJ,-based Marshall Railroad didn’t actually have a show date in Asheville. But, as is often the case with bands on an East Coast leg of a tour, Asheville proved a handy stopping point between gigs, and a good place to busk for a little gas money. Continue reading

Alex Berkow, Juggler

He’s not entirely sure how it happened, but Alex Berkow thinks that his gimmick of juggling hardware for the crowds in downtown Asheville might have happened because he lost his regular juggling equipment and had to start over with anything that had a long handle. Far from ruining his act, his new gimmick of tossing and deftly catching wrenches, plungers and hammers through the air also brought him a fair amount of tourist coin. Continue reading

Charles Clyde Toney II performs “Drunk Angels”

Charles Clyde Toney II is hardly a stranger to Busk Break. In fact, he’s one of the most documented performers in the series, thanks largely to one particularly fun evening of music on a very warm spring night this year, where he was joined by fellow buskers Kris Wahl and Eris Valentine. Until now, however, there hasn’t been a recording of Toney performing by himself. Continue reading

Patrick and Cody play an untitled original

It was scorching hot on the streets of Asheville when I met Patrick and Cody, but you’d never know it from how chill these two were during the recording. They were hanging out in the shade in front of the Woolworth Walk, brought there by local busker Charles Clyde Toney II, and all three were performing together as I approached. Continue reading

Pilgrim, Elmore and Bob play “Black Eyed Suzie”

What’s a group of buskers to do when they’re ready and willing to play, but the weather has different plans? Hiding out in the entrance of the Miles Building during a fierce rainstorm, traveling buskers Pilgrim, Elmore and Bob had planned on busking in front of the Iron sculpture in downtown Asheville. As a result, they were instead playing tunes largely to entertain each other until the torrent passed. Continue reading

Mike Gray rocks the Go-Box on “Her Mind Is Gone”

If you’ve never seen Austin-based musician Mike Gray bust out some tunes on his “go-box,” you’ve missed out. Inspired by the designs of Asheville-based folk artist and performer Robert Seven, there’s really no way of explaining what he’s playing other than “It used to be a guitar, but there’s now a bunch of percussiony bits on it, and he plays it with chopsticks.” Here, he plays a version of the Professor Longhair tune “Her Mind Is Gone” near the Grove Arcade. Continue reading

Alex Travers shares a little rainy day Bach

During a rainy day in Asheville, NC, Boone-based busker Alex Travers performs the first movement of J.S. Bach’s Partita No.3 for Solo Violin in E major. Travers was originally planning on performing in front of that ever-popular downtown busking spot, the giant Iron Sculpture near the Miles Building, but the constant drizzle moved him under the eave of a nearby store. Tips were understandably poor, and he started to moved on after only a few minutes of playing. Thankfully, I ran into him before he did, and managed to convince him to play a few more tunes for the Busk Break project. Continue reading